It's a little late but here's my Christmas fic of the year. enjoy:)

Nobody knew why she did it.

The spiteful, jealous girls held her so-called whorish tendencies accountable. The boys were just too enamored by her to blame it on anything but her "angelic nature". Her brothers had, after years of complaining about it, resigned to admitting she was completely off her rocker.

But Draco…well, Draco Malfoy didn't wonder about why she did it, per se; his concerns just tilted towards the "what to do about it" axis. And what he did do about it involved heavy use of his fists.

See every Christmastime, without fail, Ginny Weasley baked a batch of cookies, and distributed them to a different boy for each of the eleven days before Christmas, and on Christmas day itself.

During her first four years in Hogwarts, this didn't pose as much of a problem, as the boys were more than happy to receive a batch of cookies from the most proficient (not to mention gorgeous) baker they had ever had the good fortune of meeting, but when her fifth year came, things became different.

It was during Ginny Weasley's fifth year that she became Draco Malfoy's girlfriend.

"Happy Christmas, Malfoy." Said the grinning fifth year, a plate of cookies on the palms of her outstretched hands. The conniving redheaded girl held the plate right under the slightly bewildered boy's nose, for maximum temptation.

A sneer slowly crept into Draco's features.

"What" he paused, "are those?"

The girl rolled her eyes, but her grin stayed intact, and she looked a tiny bit too amused for his liking. Was she trying to trick him?

"Your reputation for having keen observation skills doesn't do you justice, Malfoy." She drawled, sounding very much like him, only more feminine of course. "They're cookies! Now take them, before I change my mind."

He sniffed. Oh, did they smell heavenly.

"You didn't bake these, did you?" He could barely restrain himself from grabbing one cookie and stuffing it in his mouth in a manner that would rival a famished troll's eating habits.

"No, Ron did." She half-snorted, and rolled her eyes again.

She laughed at his horrified expression. "Of course I baked them, you idiot. And I didn't poison them, if that's what you're about to ask next."

She baked and she could read minds. Was there anything this Weasley girl couldn't do?

"Why are you giving me cookies?"

"Merlin, Malfoy. Do you interrogate everyone who has the magnanimity to offer you something without asking for anything in return? Can't I just give away cookies to spread the Christmas spirit? It's a tradition I have, you know."

No, he didn't know.

And no, he did not interrogate everyone. He just tended to be wary around sisters of his arch-enemies' sidekicks. Who happened to be very, very… uh, not ugly.

"Fine." He said a bit snottily, taking one cookie and biting into it cautiously. It was delicious, of course. Pretty soon he was eating all the cookies on her plate.

"Yummy, aren't they?" She smirked at him, a mischievous glint in her big, chocolate brown eyes.

"I suppose so." Draco would not lick the chocolate that got on his fingers. He would not.

"I was lying, Malfoy. I do want something in return."

Draco stared at her in shock. Well, to an outsider he would look the same as he normally did (which was impassive, cool and collected), but if you looked closely, you would notice that his eyes were just a teensy bit wider, and his mouth was slightly parted. But he regained his composure immediately.

"I should have known. What is it, Weasley?" He asked disdainfully.

She just smirked at him again then slowly, she lifted her hand, slid her finger slowly up his chest, and Draco just had to gulp. (In a hopefully unnoticeable manner) The tip of her forefinger traced his lips, then his nose, then went up, up, up…and then she was pointing above him.

She leaned toward him to whisper in his ear, and he could feel her lips, her soft, pink lips, grazing his skin.

"Mistletoe."

"You want me to give you mistletoe?" His asked hoarsely, with a twinge of sarcasm. The smell of her hair, well her in general, was clouding his senses. But he still managed to keep his wit and sense of humor.

She giggled softly. "You're an imbecile and an asshole, all rolled into one pretty package. Just kiss me, you ponce."

And he did.

Then he noted, with great satisfaction, that Ginny Weasley tasted better than her cookies.

Draco thought that his suggestion was pretty reasonable. He was her boyfriend. He had the right to hoard all the cookies she baked, and keep every breathing male (that wasn't related to her) away from her. So he didn't know why Ginny got so huffy when he asked her not to send any more cookies to different boys for each of the eleven days before Christmas, and on Christmas day itself.

"It'stradition, Malfoy! Get over it!"

They had been together for almost a year, and Ginny only called him Malfoy when she was either pissed at him, or being particularly affectionate. He bet his galleons on the former.

"ButGin, all the boys are going to think you're offering yourself to them!"

"Listen here, Malfoy. Just because we got together through this tradition, it doesn't mean I'm going to hook up with every boy I present cookies to! My cookie distribution does not hold some symbolic meaning of me wanting to go out with them!"

And she had remained unfazed by his puppy dog eyes and sexy pout.

And she still hadn't backed down when he resorted to fury.

"I'm baking the goddamn cookies and that's final!!" She had screamed, before banging the portrait of his room closed and stomping out.

Sometimes Draco couldn't help but thank the heavens he was Head Boy and had his own room, so that no one else could witness the embarrassing lack of control he had over his own girlfriend.

"I baked the cookies." Was the first thing Ginny told him the next morning as she sat down next to him at the Slytherin table.

"Good morning to you too." He grumbled. She knew he wasn't a morning person. Why did she have to start his day with such horrible news?

"And I got this special delivery thing that owls each package at the specific date I set for it to be owled. So you'll be happy to know that I won't be delivering the cookies personally this year." She said a matter-of-factly.

"Good to know." He grumbled as he shoveled scrambled eggs into his plate. He then downed a whole mug of coffee in one shot, wishing he had something stronger. Like hard liquor.

"Awww, come on Draco. They're just cookies." Ginny cooed as she pressed her cheek into his bicep, and stared up at him with her wide, brown eyes.

More than anything, Draco wanted to retort with an "Exactly! They're just cookies, so why do you insist on going on with this?" But he knew that he was fighting a lost battle (not to mention he didn't want her to scream at him in the Great Hall), so he resigned to answering with a "Fine. It's your stupid tradition."

"Thank you." She said primly, and then she placed a tiny kiss on his shoulder.

"So who's the first?"

"Dean."

"Thomas?!" He all but roared. The cheeky git was Ginny's ex-boyfriend!

"Relax, Malfoy. He's just a friend."

"Just a friend my arse…" He muttered, followed by several incoherent mumbles that would make even a Death Eater blush.

But he complained no more, and breakfast ended with no incident. On the whole, Draco was beginning to accept Ginny's tradition, until of course later that morning.

"Dean, stop following me!" Draco's ears perked at the sound of his love's irritated voice addressing her ex-boyfriend.

"But Ginny, I love you!"

Hewhat? Draco's head nearly exploded, and he began stomping towards their voices. Then he slowed down when he started processing what Dean said. It really wasn't Dean's fault that he loved Ginny. Ginny was perfect; a boy must be retarded to not be in love with her. Hell, even retarded boys would fall in love with Ginny. That was just how perfect she was.

And that was also why she and Draco made a great couple. Perfect people should stick together, after all.

But the next thing he heard broke any semblance to self-control he had at that moment.

"Ack! Dean! You fucki-mmfff!!" Draco just about went mad at the sound of her muffled voice, and he tore wildly through the hall to get to Ginny. As he rounded the corner, a ghastly sight greeted him.

Ginny was pressed against the wall, and Dean appeared to be eating her face. He noted with relief that Ginny was obviously struggling, but this was immediately overcome by his rage. He unceremoniously tore Dean off her, and started beating him to a bloody pulp.

"Draco! Stop it! You'll get detention, you pugnacious moron!"

"Don't. Care." Draco punctuated each word with a punch into Dean's gut. Who cares about hexes when physical violence is so much more satisfying? "The bloody. Bastard. Sexually. Harassed. You."

Ginny paused to reflect on that for a while, but quickly went back to being reasonable. She was quite strong herself, but it was pretty hard to tear Draco away from his current activity. When Draco was intent on getting something done, which in this case was beating Dean Thomas bloody, it was very difficult to sway him.

"Enough." She said sternly. Then she promptly cast a few healing charms on the poor boy. He was still lying groaning on the floor, but Ginny decided that he deserved to be left where he was.

"You're actually healing the bastard?" Draco was close to spluttering. (Malfoys never splutter)

"Yes, to avoid getting your overly macho ass in detention. You should be grateful."

Draco just narrowed his eyes at her in response.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Now let's get out of here." She said, linking his arm into his and partially dragging him away.

But Draco thankfully managed to give Dean a little kick before he was out of reach.

And that was only the first day.

It was during the fourth day that Ginny began to suspect that something was really amiss. Sure, in Draco's opinion, it wasn't very difficult to imagine why all four of the boys Ginny had delivered cookies to had immediately proclaimed their undying love for her after eating her cookies (but Draco quickly took care of that by giving them the same treatment as he had given Dean), it was Ginny after all.

But Ginny thought that there must be something wrong with the cookies she was baking to arouse this sort of reaction.

After Draco had beaten Michael Conner (the fourth boy) up, and Ginny had healed him and left him groaning on the floor, Ginny dragged Draco to the kitchens to investigate.

That was when they discovered that the house elves had accidentally added an extra ingredient in Ginny's cookie batter that caused some chemical reaction, making the batter into a subdued version of a love potion. That was, the recipient had to be already attracted to the giver; the love potion only amplified whatever feelings the recipient already had. Thankfully, the effects of the potion faded away after an hour or so.

"See! They were all attracted to you! It only took some stupid chemical reaction to make them go all crazy over you!" Draco roared after he had determined this. (He was very excellent at potions; so the moment he found out all the ingredients in Ginny's cookies, and the ingredient the house elves had accidentally added, he was quick to determine the outcome)

"Hmm." Ginny murmured. "I must say, I'm very flattered. But what am I going to do about this? I can't retract the cookies for the next eight days."

"You will stay locked up in your room!" Draco yelled at her. "And I will stay with you to protect you."

Ginny looked at her boyfriend dubiously, but decided to try out Draco's suggestion/demand for the fifth day. It was a Saturday anyway.

"This was a stupid idea." Ginny announced as she stood looking down at the body of Seams Finnigan, which lay unmoving at her feet. With the exception of the occasional twitch.

"Yes, we should've locked you up in my room instead." Draco murmured thoughtfully, as he regarded the body as well.

Ginny shot him a nasty look.

"What? Who knew the bastard would try sneaking into your room by flying through the window? Good thing I was here to fend him off."

Instead of replying, Ginny slowly got down and hooked her arms under Seamus, and started dragging him towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked, with a bit of panic in his voice. Was she going to leave him for the twitching twit? She was going to take him to the hospital wing? They might fall madly in love and she would leave him and…

"I'm bringing him down to the common room, Malfoy. Honestly! You should really take anger management classes. You can't go around beating everybody up! It's inhumane!"

Draco hung his head in shame. Sort of.

"I'm sorry Gin. It's just that, I don't want them to steal you away from me."

Instead of getting the sympathetic look and sweet kiss he expected he expected, Ginny snorted at him.

"Are you kidding me Malfoy? Why in the world would I allow myself to be stolen away from you?"

The way Ginny said that, paired with the look on her face, made Draco's heart swell, and he almost forgot how to breathe. He wanted to sweep her off her feet and kiss her like he'd never kissed her before.

But he couldn't do that, there was an unconscious body in the way. He settled for smiling at her. She rolled her eyes and smiled back. It would have been a beautiful moment if the unconscious body hadn't moaned in pain and ruined it.

"I better bring him down now. Help me, Draco." She demanded.

And in a fit of sudden remorse for his slightly inhumane actions (Ginny had the amazing capability to make him feel just that – remorse), he did.

The next day, Draco exerted all his energy on intercepting the next owl. Given that the delivery came during the mornings, and the fact that Draco was very far from being a morning person, this was an amazing feat indeed. Especially since he was actually able to accomplish it.

"Who's next?"

"Justin. Look, there he is." Ginny nodded at the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

"Right then." Draco replied as he heard the collective flap of owls' wings. He stood up determinedly, and strode towards the Ravenclaw table.

He stood in front of the Ravenclaw boy when a package landed in front of him.

"If you enjoy your life, you're going to hand that over to me right now." Draco said in a dangerously calm tone.

"Why should I? It's my name on the package." The boy replied arrogantly.

Draco's jaw twitched. "Conner!" He barked. The blond Ravenclaw nearly jumped right out of his seat. "Tell your house mate here that he should give me the package immediately."

The blond boy gulped visibly. "Y-you should f-follow what he says, mate. Those're Ginny's cookies." He said, nodding at the package in Justin's hands.

"Ginny's cookies? No way I'm giving them to you!"

Draco swiftly took Justin by the collar with one arm. The boy gulped when he noted that his toes were barely brushing the floor.

"Look, Ginny asked me to retrieve the cookies for her. Eating these cookies will reap very grave consequences."

"Okay, okay!" Justin barely squeaked out. Draco unceremoniously released him, and he stumbled into the table as he fell.

"Here." Justin said, handing the package over to Draco with shaking hands.

"Thank you." Draco smirked at him, and sauntered back to his table. "Mission accomplished." He grinned as he sat down beside Ginny.

Ginny smirked at him. "Yes, and you only had to threaten him once! A tremendous improvement, Draco. I applaud you." She said drily.

"As do I." Blaise drawled, and gave a little clap.

Draco bowed his head in recognition. "Six down, six more to go."

"You mean five, love. The twelfth is for you." Ginny gave him a small smile. "The eleventh is Blaise's though. So Blaise, you know what to do."

"Keep the cookies and eat them all, gotcha." Blaise grinned at the smoldering look Draco shot him. "Relax mate, only kidding."

"You better have been."

Miraculously, the next five days passed by without harm, and the happy couple found themselves celebrating Christmas morning together, without any love-crazed fools in the way.

"Happy Christmas, Draco." Ginny smiled warmly at him that morning in the empty Slytherin Common Room, where she sat with Draco in front of the fire. She gave him a brief kiss as she handed him her present. "And here are your cookies. No more beating up random boys okay?"

"Happy Christmas to you too. And I promise to beat up only the lecherous blokes next time." Draco smiled back at her as he took one cookie and bit into it. Delicious.

She looked gorgeous, as usual, in one of his green jumpers, and a pair of muggle jeans. The jumper hung loosely on her, exposing an expanse of pale, freckled shoulder. Her hair tumbled in unruly red waves down her back and shoulders, and when she smiled at him just like that, he could've lapsed into a comatose.

"Open it!" She gushed giddily, as she prodded him with her foot.

"Patience, Weasley." He drawled as he carefully unwrapped the present.

"Just tear it Malfoy!" Ginny said impatiently.

"It's my present, and I'll open it the way I want to open it." Draco replied haughtily. Finally, the present lay unwrapped before him, revealing a tiny box. He looked at her before opening the box, and caught her anxiously chewing on her bottom lip.

When he opened the box, he saw a glittering silver chain with an incredibly tiny heart-shaped vial of crimson liquid attached to it.

"It's a-"

"Blood vial." Draco finished quietly.

In the wizarding world, giving another person a heart-shaped vial full of your blood (but the tiny size of the vial only allowed two drops of blood, really) symbolized a promise of everlasting love for that person. It took a very painful ritual to create the magic in the vial, which bound the giver spiritually and emotionally to the recipient, and the only way to break the bond would be for the recipient to break the vial purposefully. (That was another thing about the vial; it would never break unless the recipient truly wanted it to)

"Draco, we've never really told each other this, which is pretty weird since we've been together for almost a year and I honestly couldn't be any happier but," Ginny took a deep breath. "I do love you, you know?" She said quietly. "Even though you can be horribly impossible, not to mention violent, at times."

Instead of replying, Draco handed Ginny her present. She took it nervously and ripped off the wrapper in one tear. Upon opening the box, she spotted a sprig of mistletoe.

"Er…thank you Draco. I think." She said hesitantly, as she slowly took up the mistletoe between her forefinger and thumb and examined it closely. "Oh I get it. Haha, Draco. Recounting our first kiss are you?" She gulped, trying to mask her disappointment.

"Well yes. But there's something else." He nodded at the box impatiently.

Ginny's breath caught in her throat as she peered into the box once more. "It's a blood vial." She announced, nearly choking from keeping back tears. "And your ring!" Ginny gasped as her fingers touched the Malfoy family ring which she used to see forever attached to Draco's finger, now hanging on the chain beside the blood vial.

"I suppose that means I love you too, Weasley."

now i wasn't sure about adding that last part, but i always feel the need to end stories with a sense of finality, knowing that the two characters are more or less going to be together forever, if that makes any sense.

now technically there weren't 12 beatings. but it makes the title sound cuter that way so sue me. :P

i hope you enjoyed this story, my lovelies! reviews would be much appreciated.:)